Arthropoda - Insecta
Taxonomic
Classification
Unique, Shared characteristics within your phylum
Domain: Eukaryota; Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum:
Arthropoda; Classes: Merostomata, Pycnogonida,
Arachnida, Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Branchiopia,
Maxillopoda, Malacostraca, Chilopoda, Diplopoda,
Insecta
-Exoskeleton (external skeleton that supports and protects the body) composed of chitin and protein
-segmented body, body has three main parts: head, thorax, and abdomen
-Compound eyes
-Antennae
- jointed legs (usually have three pairs)
-Devion Period, around 400 million years ago First Appearance on Earth
Habitat
Part of the food chain/web/pyramid
-They live in all environments such as land, air, and a few insects live in water (mainly crustaceans live in the water)
-are mainly primary consumers (herbivores), some are secondary consumers (carnivores) , this mainly depends on what insect you are referring to
-the (left) food chain while the (right) is for animals on land
Role in the environment
-some insects are pests (mosquitoes)
- some are beneficial such as bees, wasps, and butterflies which pollinate flowers and other plants

Adaptations of homologous structures within the phylum
Identifying three species within the phylum that are endangered and why
Three interesting facts or trivia you found
-silkworm which helps make silk
-wings
-mouth parts that consists of a labrum (upper lip), a pair of mandibles, hypopharnyx (bottom of mouth), a labium, and a pair of maxilles
-antennae
-San Bruno elfin butterfly and mission blue butterfly because of urban development in San Francisco
-Zayante Band-winged Grasshopper due to urban development in Santa Cruz and sand mining
-class Insecta is the largest group in the animal kingdom
-class Insecta is the most diverse group on Earth
-95% of all animals in the world are insects
For the following, identify how the structures involved in the processes have adapted to their environment
Movement -wings used for flying
-legs used for walking (many insects have adapted tripedal gaits which allow insects to walk very quickly while maintaining good balance), crawling, and hopping
-swimming (insects that live in water have adapted their legs to have a structure similar to a paddle), also capable of walking on water because their claws are in a special groove up the leg instead of at the tip of their feet
Food processing -has a long tube through the body that travels food from the mouth to the anus called the alimentary canal
-first section of the alimentary canal is the foregut: food enters the mouth which goes through the esophagus, and then into the crop where the food is stored
-foregut is where the food is first broken down by saliva
-second section is the midgut: the food stored in the crop enters the midgut and the food is digested and broken down even more by enzymes
- midgut wall has microvilli that absorb the nutrients from the food
-the undigested food left in the midgut goes to the hindgut and combines with uric acid that leaves the insect through the anus
Type of eaters
Respiration
Herbivores, carnivores, omnivores
-do not have lungs
-use tracheal system (this is basically a branch of tubes in the insect’s body that carries oxygen directly to the

Internal Transport
(Circulatory system)
Endothermic or exothermic
Osmoregulation &
Excretion
Sensory system
(central and peripheral)
Fertilization and reproduction cells)
-have pores called spiracles located outside the insect’s body that allow oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to be released
-have open circulatory system
-blood and the tissue fluid in the insect are the same, and this is called hemolymph
- long vessel located at the insects’ back that is divided into chambers and act as the heart
-hemolymph is pumped by this heart through vessels that leaves the circulatory system into spaces surrounding the organs, and exchange material between the hemolymph fluid and the body cell
-hemolymph is returned into the circulatory system through the ostia (pores that have valves which open and take up hemolymph back into the heart when the dorsal vessel relaxes)
Ectothermic; insects’ body temperature are affected by their surrounding environment
-Malpighian tubule system used for osmoregulation and excretion
-this system has tubules that absorb solutes, water, and waste in the insect’s hemolymph
-undigested food and uric acid in the hind gut form feces
-90% of the feces water is absorbed by the rectum and these feces then leave the insect through the anus
-has a complex brain
-ventral nerve cord that has ganglia
-in the head, there are six fused segments (with each segment having a pair of ganglia) outside the brain
-the first 3 pairs of ganglia are fused into the brain, and the other 3 pairs are fused under the insect’s esophagus
-ganglia also found in the thorax and abdomen
-are nociceptors (this means that they are able to feel pain)
-usually sexual reproduction
-usually lay eggs for the offspring to hatch
-the eggs are also able to stay inside the mother and hatch right before the eggs are laid
-some females are able to reproduce without having her eggs fertilized by a male
-a little rare for insects to have both male and female reproduction organs

Predator Prey adaptations
- males must sing, dance, or even give gifts in order to mate with a female ex. Crickets play a calling song to attract the female, flies perform dances by flying around the female, and some male insects capture prey and give it to the female in order to mate with her
-camouflage
-some insects are toxic to predators and have bright colours to warn their predator
-stick insects have a few ways of preventing themselves from being eaten:
- able to release a terrible odour
-play dead
-change colour that’s similar to their surroundings
- if a predator catches the insect’s leg, the stick insect has a special muscle which allows its leg to be broken off in order to escape from its predator, and even regenerate its leg during its next molt